Lower taxes for residents, raises for some officials
The Putnam County Legislature approved a $205 million budget on Tuesday (Oct. 29) that lowers the property tax rate and boosts salaries for county officials while denying one for the county executive.
Putnam’s budget keeps the overall revenue from property taxes at the same level, includes the lowest tax rate in 18 years and funds 2.75 percent cost-of-living raises for legislators, Sheriff Kevin McConville, coroners, managers and other staff.
Spending will rise by $10 million over 2024 and revenues include $79 million in sales taxes, $14 million in reserve funds and $46.2 million from property taxes, the same as this year’s budget. Properties will be taxed $2.70 per $1,000 of assessed value, or 15 cents lower than this year.
A combination of “outliers, unfunded mandates and cost increases beyond our control” helped drive spending over $200 million for the first time, County Executive Kevin Byrne said when he presented the plan to legislators on Oct. 3 at the Historic County Courthouse in Carmel.
He has until Nov. 8 to veto any revisions approved by the Legislature, which then has until Nov. 15 to override, by a two-thirds vote, any changes rejected by Byrne.
“Regardless of party or political control, the fact of the matter is the cost of services, materials and labor goes up — not down,” said Byrne when he introduced the budget. “The real challenge in government is for leadership in the public sector to manage these increases responsibly and demonstrate it can do more to control the growth of spending, so it doesn’t unnecessarily squeeze the taxpayer.”
The county will spend $1.8 million more on health insurance premiums in 2025 and $1.5 million for pre-K and early intervention programs. It also faces $1.4 million in increased costs for raises negotiated for employees represented by the Sheriff’s Department Police Benevolent Association and the Putnam Management Association.
“We’ve made Putnam County healthier by providing money for the nurses in the Health Department,” said Paul Jonke, chair of the Legislature. “And we’ve made Putnam County safer by giving the sheriff additional personnel to help with investigations.”
In addition to those raises, the Legislature amended the budget to move money Byrne had set aside in contingency accounts for 2.75 percent cost-of-living raises for McConville, legislators and other department heads.
Moving the money to wages means McConville’s salary will increase by $4,700 to $175,061 and legislators will earn $1,252 more, to $46,770.
Legislators also moved from contingency to salary raises for the three coroners ($706 annual increase to $26,394), the clerk ($4,080, to $152,391), the auditor ($3,600, to $133,888) and deputy department heads.
While legislators voted in committee to move from contingency to wages a 2.75 percent cost-of-living raise that would have boosted Byrne’s salary by $4,800 to $180,863, they voted against the move during the budget vote on Oct. 29.
In a statement after the vote (see comment below), Byrne said he would not have accepted a raise “until the rest of our collective bargaining units have settled contracts.”
“To date, we have two contracts with the four collective bargaining units,” he wrote. “We have a memo of understanding with half of the remaining units and patiently await the Legislature’s vote on the new Putnam County Sheriffs Employee Association contract. We are hopeful we can make more progress with the Civil Service Employees Association, the last remaining bargaining unit, in the months ahead.”
To clarify, as Putnam County Executive, I did not ask nor would I have accepted a raise in the 2025 county budget until the rest of our collective bargaining units have settled contracts.
I have long felt that part of being an effective leader means the leader takes care of the team (in this case our remarkable county workforce) before himself/herself. If the Legislature had provided the county executive a raise I would have likely vetoed it to keep it in sub-contingency and not in salary, or I would have simply written to the commissioner of finance to have it withheld from my salary. Either way, I wasn’t taking the pay hike.
I am not offended by those who voted to keep the money in sub-contingency. On this particular item, we are in agreement. To date, we have two contracts with the four collective bargaining units. We have a memo of understanding with half of the remaining units and patiently await the Legislature’s vote on the new PCSEA contract. We are hopeful we can make more progress with the CSEA, the last remaining bargaining unit, in the months ahead.
Byrne is the Putnam County executive.